London CNN –
The UK government has delayed health and safety checks on food imports from the European Union for the fifth time in three years, amid fears that additional controls will drive up food prices and disrupt vital supplies.
The latest foot-dragging shows Britain is still struggling to deal with the painful consequences of leaving the EU in January 2020, which raised costs on UK businesses and hit trade, investment and ultimately economic growth Is.
Brexit has already contributed to Britain’s particularly high Inflation has caused friction in the country’s most important trading relationship, and has affected the value of the pound, making imports more expensive. A recent study by the London School of Economics found that Brexit was responsible for nearly a third of UK food price inflation since 2019, adding almost £7 billion ($8.8 billion) to Britain’s grocery bill.
The UK government is desperate to avoid doing this Anything that makes matters worse. Tuesday’s announcement also highlights long-standing concerns that border checks on food imports from the EU – which supplies 28% of the food consumed in Britain – could choke off supplies.
The government said on Tuesday that the extension of the deadline would “give additional time to the stakeholders to prepare for the new cheques”.
Health Certification under Revised Time Table “High-risk food” and “moderate-risk” animal and plant products, previously due to be introduced at the end of October, will be pushed back until January 2024. The physical inspection has been pushed back to the end of April. Final controls on EU imports – safety and security declarations – were postponed until October 2024.
Some UK industry groups welcomed the latest delay in border checks, saying they would increase costs and friction in supply chains.
Shane Brennan, CEO of the Cold Chain Federation, said, “These Brexit checks will fuel food price inflation whenever they are brought in, and so the longer they are put in place, the better.”
The association – representing businesses that distribute perishable produce that requires cold storage – is concerned that some smaller EU suppliers may stop exporting their products to the United Kingdom because of the new and costly bureaucracy. Are.
But industry groups also urged the government to provide certainty for businesses that prepare for repeated checks but miss the deadline.
Although the delay was “the right decision”, Brennan said it was “another blow” to the government’s credibility, and “to top this confusion”. This will make it even more difficult to ensure that EU businesses are ready to comply with the new rules.
Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, trade union, said: “We need to be sure EU exporters, who have already seen a number of moratoriums, can continue. [UK] The investigation will thoroughly prepare for the January and April investigations with the confidence that controls will be implemented.
UK food producers are subject to full border controls on products going into the EU from January 2021, when Britain exits the EU’s vast internal market and customs union. In turn, checks on EU food coming into the UK were due to come into force at the same time, but were first delayed in the midst of the pandemic.
The UK economy remains in a fragile state, with the twin problems of sharply high inflation and rising interest rates following COVID-19.
The UK’s inflation rate is the highest in the G7, with consumer prices rising 6.8% in July from a year earlier. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to halve inflation to around 5% this year.
In its Tuesday statement, the government said the latest timetable for border controls took into account the “small potential impact on inflation” and the government’s “firm commitment to bring down the rate”.
According to its estimates, the new checks are expected to add less than 0.2 percentage points Food inflation rate over three years.
In addition to inflation, food supply disruptions remain a concern in the UK, which imports less than half of the food it consumes.
Earlier this year, major UK supermarkets had to ration some fruit and vegetables due to a fall in imports due to bad weather in key growing regions.
A spokeswoman for the Food and Drink Federation, which represents UK food manufacturers, said the latest delay in border checks was “unfortunate but necessary, to ensure that the proper infrastructure is in place so that food and drink from the EU not be supplied.” Interrupted.”
In an analysis published earlier this month, the FDF found that UK-EU trade in food and drink fell significantly in the first quarter of 2021 and took almost two years to recover.
— Olesya Dmitrakova contributed reporting.
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